We would like to share the good news that with the grace of Swami, Dada, Niruma, Pujyashree and all Dev Devio we have started our own new Dada Bhagwan Center in New York.
The place is located at 2 Patton Place, Plainview, NY 11803.
The building is in a professional/commercial zoned area in the heart of Long Island, NY. The donated space is approximately 1000 sq. ft. It is part of a larger 3000 sq. ft building occupied by another tenant. The plot is approximately 10,000 sq. ft. It is centrally located and in a very affluent neighborhood with a large population of Indian Americans. There is easy access to public transportation and is also handicap accessible. The space has been renovated thoughtfully to serve to all our satsang needs.
Click below to watch moments captured on spot by our News Reporter:
NY had been conducting their satsangs in public temples or day care centers since 2012 and a permanent location had been a need for us for almost 5 years. Many NY members had been searching for almost 10 years for a permanent location. We got approval from NCC at GP 2016 to proceed with the search. Back in NY, under the guidance of the coordinator, we started putting the plan in action. We hired an attorney who incorporated for us as a not-for-profit chapter of NY. We came up with the legal name as THE NONSECTARIAN TRIMANDIR OF NEW YORK INC.(NSTM NY) (from Dada’s concept of “nishpakshpati”).
The trustees had ironed out that it was better that we purchased a property instead of renting. The financial obligations were ironed out and a temple committee (NSTM NY) was formed which comprised of one or two members per family. Almost all New York mahatma families were included and the committee has 21 members. After that we formed a powerpoint presentation, which we presented to the whole satsang body and shared our vision to get our own center like the one that has developed in Ruislip, London England.
We identified our current satsang location in Queens, NY as our central location and decided to search within a 10 mile radius from that location. We determined key component/requirements for our center i.e.
- Distance
- Accessibility via public transportation or walking or driving
- Indian neighborhood
- Safe neighborhood
- Capacity (100-150 seating capacity and preferred separate dining area)
We also identified key components of the building requirement i.e.
- Zoning
- Sellers willingness to work with us
- Difficulty score of township to work with us to change zone for church use etc.
We put this on a grading scale of 1 to 5. We then presented all the available properties and the grading scale attached with some of the properties that had been researched. All our NY mahatmas gave their blessings to continue with this project and assured us that they would follow us on whatever that was decided. With this abhedta and prem from all our mahatmas, we started viewing and driving to all the identified properties weekly, after our regular Sunday satsangs.
We found a location which met all our criteria in late December and were waiting on approvals from NCC – National Real Estate team. It is very heartening to note that at national level we have a team of dedicated Mahatmas grouped as “national real estate team” bringing their wide ranging experience for such projects.
But with Dada and Niruma’s grace and blessings, a mahatma offered us his location which was very close to our property of interest. It had just become vacant in January 2017. Coincidentally around the same time in end of December we had been given notice by our current rental location that we could no longer conduct satsangs there as that current temple was shutting down.
This property met all our needs and relieved the trustees from a lot of financial burden and responsibility. We dropped all our searching and embraced the opportunity wholeheartedly and knew that vyavasthit had directly intervened and given us a beautiful result for all our sincere efforts.
The renovation of our property was completed in February and we did a beautiful opening ceremony with bhakti and garba with all our NY satsang body. We are experiencing so much love and support from each mahatma of the NY group. They have embraced this mandir as their own. Each mahatma has either volunteered their seva and/or contributed monetarily in some way or the other without ever even being asked i.e. microwaves, chairs, tables, cleaning supplies and so much more.
This mandir has brought about so much unity and love that we find it a miracle place. We are now not bound by the confines of limited hours of satsang. As this place is owned, our satsang hours have expanded. More activities – LMHT, YMHT, MMHT, WMHT, English and Hindi Satsangs are being planned throughout the week at our convenience! Isn’t it a beautiful feeling to call a place as our own Center! Dada’s work continues and we are planning more satsangs at our new Center!!
Jai Sat Chit Anand!